Her Excellency
Besiana Kadare
Besiana Kadare in the UN General Assembly hall
13th Permanent Representative of Albania to the United Nations
Assumed office
30 June 2016
PresidentBujar Nishani
Ilir Meta
Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon
António Guterres
Preceded byFerit Hoxha
Vice President of the United Nations General Assembly for its 75th session
Assumed office
2020
PresidentVolkan Bozkir; President of General Assembly
Albanian Ambassador to Cuba
Assumed office
30 June 2016
Personal details
BornTirana, Albania
Parents
Alma materParis IV-Sorbonne University

Besiana Kadare is an Albanian diplomat. She served as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Permanent Representative of Albania to the United Nations, a Vice President of the United Nations General Assembly for its 75th session, and Albania's Ambassador to Cuba.[1] Albania will be sitting on the UN Security Council for a two-year term, in 2022–23. She was formerly from 2011 to 2016 Albania's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Delegate to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris. She is the daughter of writers Helena Kadare and Ismail Kadare.

Early life and education

Besiana's father, writer Ismail Kadare, on an Albanian postal stamp.

Kadare is the daughter of writers Helena Kadare and Ismail Kadare.[2][3][4]

Kadare holds a master's degree in modern and comparative literature, and a specialized high studies diploma in modern specialized literature from the Sorbonne Paris-IV University in Paris, France.[1]

Career

Early years

Kadare served as First Secretary at Albania's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York from 2002 to 2005.[1][5] She returned to Albania in 2005 to work with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).[1]

In 2008, Kadare served in Albania's Embassy in France.[1]

Between 2011 and 2016, she served as Albania's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Delegate to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris.[1][2][6]

Permanent Representative of Albania to the United Nations

Kadare presented her credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 30 June 2016, and since then has been the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Permanent Representative of Albania to the United Nations in New York.[7][1] She is Albania's first female Ambassador to the UN, in the country's 65 years of UN membership.[8] She was appointed to serve concurrently as Albania's Ambassador to Cuba.[1]

In October 2017, at a UN Security Council meeting, Kadare said that the meaningful inclusion of women in conflict prevention and peace processes remained negligible, with women being sidelined during peace negotiations even when they were present, as it was always men who led and decided when and how to make peace. She urged that Member States increase their commitment to fully integrate women in their peace and security agenda.[9]

In 2018 Muslim-majority Albania co-hosted an event at the United Nations with Catholic-majority Italy and Jewish-majority Israel celebrating the translation of the Talmud into Italian for the first time.[10] Ambassador Kadare opined: "Projects like the Babylonian Talmud Translation open a new lane in intercultural and interfaith dialogue, bringing hope and understanding among people, the right tools to counter prejudice, stereotypical thinking and discrimination. By doing so, we think that we strengthen our social traditions, peace, stability — and we also counter violent extremist tendencies."[11]

In January 2019 Kadare on behalf of Albania co-hosted together with the World Jewish Congress and the United Nations Department of Global Communications an event on the theme "A story of humanity: the rescue of Jews in Albania".[12] She delivered remarks at the United Nations at a briefing entitled "Holocaust Remembrance: Demand and Defend your Human Rights", marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day and reflecting on the genocide of six million European Jews during World War Two, and the little-known record of Albanians during the Holocaust in Albania, which took in thousands of Jews who would otherwise have ended up in the Nazi death camps.[13][14]

Kadare in December 2019 called the decision to award Austrian writer Peter Handke, widely regarded as a denier of genocide, the 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature "shameful," saying it should forever haunt the Nobel Foundation.[15]

Speaking in May 2021 at the UN General Assembly, while calling for a ceasefire on an outbreak of fighting between Gaza and Israel, Kadare said: "The indiscriminate firing of rockets against civilian areas from Hamas and other terrorist groups is absolutely unacceptable. This must stop immediately. There is no justification, ever, for targeting civilians indiscriminately. Like all countries in the world, Israel has the right to live in peace and to guarantee the security of its civilian population, when threatened by violent actions or attack. Like all countries in the world, it is imperative that this right to self-defense is exercised proportionately and in full compliance with international law."[16]

Albania was voted to become a member of the 15-country UN Security Council for a two-year term, in 2022-23, on 11 June 2021.[8][17] Kadare said that Albania's priorities in the Security Council will include a focus on women, peace, and security, promoting human rights and international law, preventing conflicts, protecting civilians, countering violent extremism, addressing climate change and its links to security, and strengthening multilateralism and the rules-based international order.[8] She tweeted thanks to all countries that: "entrusted us with this huge responsibility."[17]

Vice President of the United Nations General Assembly

In June 2020 Kadare was voted a Vice President of the United Nations General Assembly for its 75th session.[18][19][20]

Other activities

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 New Permanent Representative of Albania Presents Credentials United Nations, press release of 30 June 2016.
  2. 1 2 Matthias Bickert (2015). Welterbestädte Südosteuropas im Spannungsfeld von Cultural Governance und okaler Zivilgesellschaft: Untersucht am Beispiel. University of Bamberg Press. ISBN 9783863093006. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  3. ↑ Héléna Kadaré (2010). Le temps qui manque: Mémoires. Fayard. ISBN 9782213661193. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  4. ↑ Ismail Kadaré (2014). Le Printemps albanais. Fayard. ISBN 9782213659572. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  5. ↑ "Permanent Missions to the United Nations". United Nations. 2008. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  6. ↑ "Permanent Delegate of Albania to UNESCO | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization". UNESCO. 14 April 2011.
  7. ↑ "Permanent Missions to the United Nations, No. 307". United Nations DGACM. 2019. ISBN 9789210479240. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  8. 1 2 3 Rudina Hoxha (April 2021). "Albania Bids for a 2-year Mandate in the United Nations Security Council; Exclusive Interview with Besiana Kadare". Trailblazing Magazine.
  9. ↑ "Despite Growing Awareness of Urgent Need to End Sexual Violence, Empower Women in Conflict Zones, Real Progress Seriously Lagging, Security Council Told". ReliefWeb. 27 October 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  10. ↑ Schwartz, Penny (29 October 2018). "A Muslim country, Catholic country and Jewish country celebrate the Talmud together. No joke". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  11. ↑ Oster, Marcy (30 September 2018). "Muslim country, Catholic country, Jewish country celebrate Talmud at UN. No joke". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  12. ↑ "Besiana Kadare: "A story of humanity: the rescue of Jews in Albania"". Albspirit. 4 February 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  13. ↑ "'Leaders who sanction hate speech' encourage citizens to do likewise, UN communications chief tells Holocaust remembrance event". UN News. 31 January 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  14. ↑ "WJC and Albanian Mission to UN Held Special Briefing on Rescue of Albanian Jews During Holocaust". The Jewish Voice. 4 February 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  15. ↑ Alice Elizabeth Taylor (10 December 2019). "Widespread Outrage among Albanians as Genocide Denier Peter Handke Wins Nobel Prize in Literature," Archived 25 October 2019 at the Wayback Machine Exit News.
  16. ↑ "Statement by H.E. Ms. Besiana Kadare, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Albania to the UN at the UNGA formal plenary meeting on the question of Palestine". Permanent Mission of the Republic of Albania to the United Nations.
  17. 1 2 "Brazil, UAE, Albania, Ghana and Gabon win UN council seats". AP NEWS. 11 June 2021.
  18. ↑ Shkruar nga Anabel (1 July 2020). "Ismail Kadare's daughter is appointed vice president of the UN General Assembly," Anabel Magazine.
  19. ↑ E. Halili (1 July 2020). "Kadare's Daughter UN Vice President, Meta: Good Opportunity for Albania," Albanian Daily News.
  20. ↑ "Besiana Kadare elected Vice President of the UN General Assembly," Oculus News, 1 July 2020.
  21. ↑ 2018 Members of the Executive Board United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).
  22. ↑ 2018 Members of the Executive Board United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
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